The present invention relates generally to a support device for temporarily holding construction sheet material in place prior to final securement, and, more particularly, to a stepped or offset support device with an orthogonal set of planar surfaces capable of temporarily supporting construction sheet material, such as gypsum board, in a vertical, horizontal, or angular orientation prior to final securement of the sheet.
Temporary support devices for construction sheet material have the general function of temporarily supporting sheet material such as gypsum board (also known as sheetrock or drywall board) prior to final securement of the sheet material to the underlying support structure. Such sheet materials are commonly used in residential, commercial and industrial buildings for covering walls or ceilings and are manufactured in standard sizes, such as 4xc3x978 feet or 4xc3x9712 feet. Due to the size and weight of these sheet materials, fastening of the sheets to horizontal, vertical, or angular studs, joists, rafters or trusses can be tiring and awkward, especially when only one or two installers are on the job site.
To assist in the installation of such construction sheet material, various temporary support devices have been employed. A commonly known temporary support is the xe2x80x9cdead manxe2x80x9d brace, which is typically fabricated from at least two pieces of 2xc3x974 stud lumber in a xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d orientation, and is generally used to temporarily support sheetrock during ceiling installation. This type of temporary support is generally fabricated on the job site in order to accommodate a specific height dimension, is large and cumbersome in its size, and is not easily transported from one job site to the next.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,309 entitled xe2x80x9cTemporary Cleat For Sheet Goodsxe2x80x9d describes a relatively thin and wide multi-piece assembly that temporarily supports sheet material and is adjustable to accommodate sheet material of various thicknesses. This type of temporary support is relatively costly in comparison to other supports not involving multi-piece assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,405 entitled xe2x80x9cDrywall Supportxe2x80x9d describes a relatively thin and wide unitary device with a right angle offset and a piercing end for the temporary support of drywall material. The piercing end can be inserted into the underlying support structure to various depths by a skilled artisan, thereby accommodating various sheet thicknesses. This type of temporary support relies on a single anchor point and requires a degree of skill for adequate, yet not excessive, depth of insertion in the underlying support structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,183 entitled xe2x80x9cDrywall Installation Toolxe2x80x9d describes a relatively thin and wide unitary device with a flat leg having two mounting holes and an angled leg having a frictional surface for the temporary support of drywall material. Accurate placement of the installation tool by a skilled artisan will produce a variety of distances between the underlying support structure and the angled leg, thereby accommodating various sheet thicknesses. This type of temporary support requires a degree of skill for appropriate placement of the tool with regard to the distance between the drywall to be installed and the angled surface of the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,361 entitled xe2x80x9cDisplaceable Support Bracket For Drywall Panel Installationxe2x80x9d describes relatively thin and wide unitary devices having a long flat leg and a short right-angled leg, or a long flat leg and a short offset leg, or a long flat leg, a short right-angled leg, and a short offset leg, for the temporary support of drywall material. Keyhole features in the long flat leg provide a way to temporarily fasten the support bracket to the underlying support structure. This type of temporary support provides limited surface engagement for large sheets, thereby increasing the number of brackets required for large sheet installations, and, since this type of temporary support is typically fabricated from a metallic material, multiple brackets would result in an increase of weight that a single installer would be required to handle when installing large sheets.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a support device for temporarily supporting a variety of construction sheet materials that is compact and easily transported, of unitary construction for low cost, provides a plurality of anchor points, requires limited skill in its use, has broad surface engagement for large sheet installations, and is fabricated from lightweight material in order to minimize the combined weight when multiple supports are used by an individual installer.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a temporary support device for installing sheet material in a building construction is provided with a multitude of rectangular and perpendicular surfaces and a rectangular pair of offset surfaces for temporarily supporting a variety of sheet materials in a variety of orientations. The temporary support device is provided with large surface areas having a width dimension in excess of the thickness of a sheet of construction material to provide a degree of surface engagement that distributes the stress of the construction sheet material over a large surface area, thereby minimizing damage to the edge of the construction sheet material. For example, when sheetrock is supported on its edge by a narrow object, the weight of the sheetrock on the narrow edge will cause an overstress condition to the sheetrock, thereby resulting in damage to the edge of the sheetrock, which is an undesirable condition.
Countersunk through holes integral to the support device accept standard screw hardware for temporarily mounting the support device to the building substructure. The pair of offset surfaces provide clearance for loosely supporting the sheet material before final securement of the sheet to the building substructure. The support device may be provided with cored out sections, thereby enhancing the utility and handling of the device by providing through holes for hanging the support device and by reducing the overall weight of the support device.
The support device may be manufactured out of lightweight machinable or castable material, such as, for example, machinable aluminum, extruded aluminum, aluminum diecast, zinc diecast, or wood. Alternatively, the support device may be manufactured out of a lightweight and moldable material, such as, for example, thermoset plastic or thermoplastic plastic. Suitable thermoset plastics would include, but are not limited to, polyester, polyester-glass, phenolic, phenolic-glass, epoxy, epoxy-glass, melamine, or melamine-glass. Suitable thermoplastic plastics would include, but are not limited to, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyester, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylics, nylons, spandex-type polyurethanes, polyamides, polycarbonates, fluorocarbons, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), acetal, and cellulosics.
Materials that can be temporarily supported by the support device include, but are not limited to, gypsum board (also known as sheetrock or drywall board), plywood, particle board, bead board (representative of wanes coating), fiber board, or sheet insulation, where the thickness of the sheets range, for example, from xe2x85x9 inch to 1xc2xd inch.
The support device of the present invention has the advantage of being a unitary device fabricated from a lightweight material, but of sufficient design and strength to support at least a portion of the weight of a sheet of construction material, of having a compact design for ease of transportation, of requiring limited skill in its use, of having broad surface engagement for large sheet installations, and of being of low cost.